Elder Race

Lynesse must seek out a reclusive wizard living in a forbidden tower. That concept alone (and the gorgeous cover) drew me to this novella, but the plot gets turned on its head almost immediately with a delicious bait and switch. The storyline that follows the twist was not quite compelling enough to sustain my interest, but the ending was strong and satisfying.

This novella is a good reminder of what an interesting writer Adrian Tchaikovsky has become and I've never been disappointed by one of his stories. As an aside, reading this in conjunction with AppleTV+'s Foundation series made for a nice genre pairing, I must say.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.